Mexico

In the dramatic conclusion to the Viva Peñoles series Daniel Woods climbs the 'omega king line' of the boulder of his dreams/nightmares in the beautiful but foreboding Mexican desert. After Jimmy Webb spots the overhung, highball problem, it claims a casualty when Dave Graham pops his tendon on it.

As the crew digs deep into the Peñoles landscape to uncover the area's true potential for hard bouldering, one boulder in particular captures the crew's attention. It's a massive monolith that looks like it fell out of the sky and oooh, mama, does it have some hard lines on it. Meanwhile Daniel Woods sends one of the hardest problems of the trip, 'El Lado Activo Del Infinito' (V14 8B+).

In this episode the bouldering dream team continues to deliver by taking down many of the hard, established boulders and putting up some of their own in Peñoles, Mexico. Shawn Raboutou, a kid crusher who tagged along with the crew, gets his first FA and tackles a highball V12 called 'Señor de Cielos'. Daniel Woods continues his tear by flashing a testpiece V12 named 'Palabras', and Paul Robinson puts up a new V12 called the Prince.

In this episode, the team adjusts to the harsh conditions of desert life and tackle their hardest bouldering ascents yet. Dave Graham repeats an overhanging face problem known as Corona Sin Ray v13 (8B), Jimmy figures out some wild moves to send Zugwang, V13 (8B), and Daniel nabs the second ascent of Markame V14 (8B+).

A dream-team of Americas strongest boulderers, including Jimmy Webb, Daniel Woods, Dave Graham, Paul Robinson, and Shawn Raboutou, has traveled to the hidden boulder fields of Peñoles, Mexico with the goal of repeating test-pieces and establishing the hardest climbs in the Chihuahua desert. Now settled in, the team explores the landscape and repeats some of the areas classic lines included Hungry Ghost (V11, 8A), Fumanchu (V11, 8A) and Herencia Del Fuego (V12/13, 8A+/B).

In January 2014, five world-class American boulderers descended into the desert near Peñoles, Mexico, in the state of Chihuahua to explore a new bouldering area with local climber and developer Diego Montull. Episode 1 introduces the cast and gives us a sweet taste of the huge potential of this incredible new area. After Nalle Hukkataival came last year and set some new lines, the boys knew they had to make the trip, knock off some repeats and discover their own problems.

On January 15, 2014, Alex Honnold free-soloed El Sendero Luminoso (The Shining Path) in El Portrero Chico, Mexico in a little over 3 hours. The climb rises 2,500 feet to the summit of El Toro. It could be the most difficult rope-less climb in history.

On January 15th, 2014, Alex Honnold made the first free solo ascent of El Sendero Luminoso (5.12d), a 15 pitch big wall near Monterrey, Mexico. This is footage from pitch 7 (5.12a), filmed by Cedar Wright, Renan Ozturk, and SkySight RC for Camp 4 Collective. The full film is coming soon to The North Face's YouTube Channel.

Black Diamond athlete Nalle Hukkataival decided to leave behind the bureaucracy of bouldering in Hueco Tanks State Historical Park in Texas and crossed the border into Mexico. Destination: Penoles, a bouldering area seven hours south of the U.S. border with rock striking similar to Hueco's but without the onerous rules and regulations. Nalle quickly realized what he had heard of Penoles was true: the place was virtually untapped, especially in regards to difficult highballs, and quickly set to work at developing a host of high-end, world-class problems.